Rep. Loretta Sanchez brings Senate campaign to Fresno

Rep. Loretta Sanchez brought her campaign for U.S. Senate to Fresno on Sunday, arguing that her two decades in the House of Representatives would allow her to quickly get to work in the Senate if she is elected.

The Orange County Democrat spoke to about 30 people from the Central California Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and Fresno Latino Rotary Club at the AAA office in northwest Fresno.

“The U.S. senator that we choose should be ready on Day One to walk into that Senate chamber and be ready to go,” said Sanchez, who was first elected to Congress in 1996. “The real negotiation right now happens in the Senate; that’s why you want a person who knows how to get the deal done, who knows how to be there, who knows how to work with both sides of the aisle and move people.”

Sanchez and California Attorney General Kamala Harris are the big names among Democrats seeking to fill the seat being vacated by Sen. Barbara Boxer, who is retiring.

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Harris, who has consistently led in the polls, visited Fresno last week seeking to button up support ahead of the state Democratic Party convention later this week in San Jose.

Sanchez told the Fresno gathering Sunday that she is no stranger to the Central Valley, having visited nine times in seven months. Sanchez stopped in Hanford earlier Sunday before her Fresno event. She also noted her background as the daughter of immigrants, and said her parents have the distinction of being the only couple in American history to have ever sent two daughters to Congress. Her sister, Linda Sanchez, represents the 38th Congressional District in eastern Los Angeles County.

“In one generation, immigrant family to running the country, so when people say to me there’s no possibilities, there’s no American dream left, I just don’t believe it,” Loretta Sanchez said. “It takes a lot of work, but it is possible.”

Sanchez said among her key issues that affect the Valley are immigration reform, investing in education and the military.

“First and foremost it especially hits us in the south of this state, but it is hitting all of America, for us to get immigration reform done – comprehensive immigration reform,” Sanchez said. “It is the moral imperative of this time and we cannot wait to get this done.”

Sanchez also said she wants to see investment in infrastructure, including money to address the state’s water needs.

Former California Gov. “Pat Brown put in the waterways; we’ve lived off the fat of some of the work from other people and we haven’t invested in infrastructure,” Sanchez said.